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Vol. 3, >'o. 113. May 19, 18*3. Annnsl Subscription, t?5.00. 

More Words 
About the Bible 




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neat CLOTH BINDING for this volume can bo obtained from any bookseller or newsdealer, price lOcts. 



■ . — -j-.-^—.l 



Woman's Place To-day. 

Four lectures in reply to the Lenten lectures on "Woman." by the Rev. 
Morgan Dix, D.D., of Trinity Church, New York. 

By Lillie Devereux Blake. 

N*. 104, NOVELL'S LIBRARY, Paper Covers, 20 Cent*, 
Clotli Limp, 50 Cents. 

Mrs. Lillie Devereuj: Blako.last Evening entertained an audience tha,t filled 
Frobisher'a Hall, in East Fourteenth street, by a witty and sarcastic handling 
of the recent Lenten talk of the Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix on the follies of women"' 
of society.— New York Times. 

Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake is a very eloquent lady, and a thorn in the side 
of the Rev. Dr. Dix, and gentlemen who, like him, presume to say that woman 
is not man's equal, if not nis superior. Mrs. Blake in her reply to Dr. Dix's ' 
recent lecture upon " Divorce, ' made some interesting remarks upon the sex. 
to which she has the honor to belong.— New York Commercial Advertiser. 

There is no denying that Mrs. B!ake has, spar tan-1 ike. jt-t<>od as a break-water 
to the surging flood Rector Dix has cast upon the so-called weaker sex with 
the hope of engulfing it. It is sad to see a gentleman in the position Dr. Dix 
occupies setting himself deliberately at work to not only bring reproach upon 
the female sex, but to make us all look with comtempt upon our mothers and 
Bisters. And the worst of his case is that he has shown that spirit in the male 
part of mankind, which is not at all creditable to it, of depreciating the in- 
tellect, the judgment, the ability and the capability of the female t>ex in order 
to elevate to a higher plane the male sex. According to Dr. Dix the world 
would be better were there no more female children born. And he makes 
this argument in the face of the fact that there would be "hell upon earih" 
were It not for the influence of women, and such women as Mrs. Lillie Devereux 
Blake, especially.— Albany Sunday Press. 



Mrs. Blake's was the most interesting and spicy speech of the evening. She 
was in a sparkline mood and hit at everything and everybody that came to 
her mind.— The Evening Telegram. N. Y. 

A stately lily of a woman, with delicate features, a pair of great gray eyes that 
dilate as she speaks till they light her whole face like two great soft stars.— 1 he 
Independent. N. Y. 

* * * She advanced to the front of the platform, gesticulated gracefully 
and spoke vigorously, d fiantly and without notes.- -2,'ew York Citizen. 

* * * a most eloquent and polished oration. The peroration wus a grand 
burst of eloquence. — Troy Times. 

Lillie Devereux Blake, blobde. brilliant, staccate, stylish, is a fluent speaker, 
of good platform presence, and argued wittily and well.— Washington, Port. 

There are very few speakers on the platform who have the brightness, 
vivacity and fluency of Lillie Devereux Blake.— Albany Sunday Press. 

Shei6an easy, graceful sneaker, and wide-awake withal, bringing our fre- 
quent app!ause.--/?aW/brt* Times. 

Mrs. Blake s address was forcible and eloquent. The speaker was frequently 
interrupted by applause.— New York Times. 

The most brilliant lady speaker in the city.— New York Herald. 

Has the reputation of being the wittiest woman on the platform.— San An- 
tonio Express. 

Mrs. Blake, who has a most pleasing address, then spoke: a Ptrong vein of 
sarcasm, wit and humor pervaded the lady's remarks.— Poughkeepsie News. 

For Sale by all Newsdealers and Booksellers 

JOHN W. LOVELL CO., Publishers, 

14 & 16 Vesey Street, New York. 



MORE WORDS 



ABOUT 



THE BIBLE. 



By S 

JAMES S. BUSH 






NEW YORK: 

JOHN W. LOVELL COMPANY, 

14 and 16 Vesey Street. 



"B^su. 



Copyright, 1883, by JOHN W. LOVELL CO. 



PREFACE. 



The following sermons were not originally pre- 
pared for publication. The first three were delivered 
in the ordinary course of pulpit instruction in a 
country parish. It will be seen that they are not 
addressed to scholars familiar with biblical criti- 
cism, but to persons of the average popular 
intelligence, religiously instructed, and not wholly 
unacquainted with the difficulties which attend 
the reading of Scripture, under the influence of 
modern thought, so called. The writer has had the 
satisfaction of learning that they have afforded some 
help to a number of those who listened to them. The 
motive to their publication now, is the desire to meet 
still further a want, long felt to be urgent, among 
Christian people. This want, indeed, has been 
already met, in many minds, with signal ability, by 
Mr. Heber Newton's more elaborate and connected 



ii PREFACE. 

discourses. But the writer believes that it is made 
still more imperative in its demands upon the clergy, 
who approve in the main Mr. Newton's teaching, by 
the mistaken criticism, and unkindly spirit, which, in 
some quarters, the publication of his sermons has 
evoked. The time is coming when censure will be 
silenced by grateful acknowledgment of the timely 
service he has rendered to those who desire to read 
the Bible intelligently. It so happened that the first 
discourse in the present series was delivered on the 
very day on which the first of Mr. Newton's was 
preached — having been prepared for the 2d Sunday 
in Advent, 1882. The two following discourses were 
delivered severally on the same day, commonly called 
Bible Sunday, in the two years preceding. Except a 
few of the closing paragraphs in the third, they are 
printed substantially as they were delivered. 

The critical reader, it is hoped, will pardon a 
repetition, which, perhaps, may help to deepen the 
impression the writer desires to make upon others. 
His excuse for some defects, beside, of which he is 
well aware, has been the wish to send them to the 
press with as little delay as possible ; no time being 
allowed for a careful rewriting. 

The writer begs leave here to renew his assent to 
the authority of God's Word in the Scriptures of the 
Old and New Testaments, and to declare his belief in 
them both, as a Divine revelation, " containing all 



PREFACE. iii 

things necessary to salvation." Whatever change 
his opinions have undergone, his conviction of the 
binding nature of the assent and declaration made in 
the beginning of his ministry, remains the same. 
Otherwise he would renounce that ministry at once. 
But while conscientiously recognizing the au- 
thority of the Church at whose altars he continues to 
serve, he affirms, also, his right to interpret the Scrip- 
tures in the light that human knowledge, and the 
promised illumination by the Spirit of Truth, shall at 
all times throw upon them. By the help and guid- 
ance of that Spirit, he will teach, as he best can, the 
word of truth to others. 

JAMES S. BUSH. 
West New Brighton, 

Staten Island, May, 1883. 



«« 



Hntatcmbeet ®l)ou wljat fttyou 
meanest ? " 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 



" UNDERSTANDEST THOU WHAT THOU READEST ? " ACTS 

viii., 30. 

It is one of the marvels of history, that 
the ancient literature of the Jewish people 
should have entered so largely into the civil- 
ization of the Western world, while the place 
of the people themselves has been one of 
ignominy and contempt. A still greater mar- 
vel is, the power of those other Scriptures — 
Jewish also in their origin — to form the be- 
lief and direct the thought of modern nations. 
These writings of a despised people are bound 
together in a volume which we call the Bible 
— the Book, first of all in the veneration and 
reverence of Christendom. 



6 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

It is thought by not a few that this rever- 
ence is declining; that the more intelligent 
criticism to which the Book is now subjected, 
will lessen the popular estimate of its value; 
and, therefore, that the place which it has 
hitherto held cannot be a permanent one. If 
the sale of the Book be any criterion of the 
popular appreciation of it, then, the proof of 
any falling off in this would seem to be want- 
ing. Probably no book in the world has met 
with any approach to the demand, among 
English speaking people, for the late revised 
translation. Certainly this demand is an in- 
dication of the very deep and widespread inter- 
est with which the Book is still regarded. It 
is not conclusive, however, against any possi- 
ble change of opinion respecting the Bible. 
Many people were curious to see how the 
new version would differ from the old. But 
curiosity is not a sufficient motive to a patient 
comparison of the two. The demand, also, 
was enlarged by the very natural feeling that 
every Protestant family must have a copy. 
And this, when obtained, after a little time 
was laid away with the old Bible, to be used 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. y 

on occasion. Of the multitude of purchasers, 
only a small proportion have become readers, 
studious and intelligent. 

Whether the Bible, as a whole, is more 
generally, or more carefully, studied by Chris- 
tian people now than in former times, it is 
difficult to tell. So far as my own observation 
extends, the popular knowledge of its contents 
is exceedingly limited and superficial. It was 
far more thorough, under the religious train- 
ing of the Scottish Covenanters and the En- 
glish Puritans. It entered into the religious 
education of New Englanders half a century 
ago, much more than it does now. The preach- 
ing of that day was more expository than 
it is now, presuming, also, upon greater fami- 
liarity with the books of Scripture. 

At the same time, it must be apparent to 
any careful observer, that while the traditional 
reverence for the Bible has for the most part 
been preserved in the churches, a gradual 
change is taking place in the understanding 
and opinions of men respecting its contents. 
The critical study of it has not been without 
its effect, among intelligent people, of exposing 



8 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

the error of current popular ideas of inspira- 
tion; and directing a closer attention to the 
true secret of its power over the hearts of 
men. For it cannot be denied that there is 
something in the Book which still keeps it 
in the forefront of human interest and inquiry. 
It never could have taken the place which it 
has held through so many ages, but for the 
evidence in its pages of a truth appealing more 
powerfully than any other to the affections, the 
hopes, and the best interests of mankind. 

And this, also, is the proof of its divine 
inspiration. It is the Book in which a reli- 
gious faith has always discerned the Word of 
God, addressing itself directly to the heart 
and conscience, furnishing the best rule of 
human life, the most exalted type of human 
character, the strongest incentives to virtue. 
This is why it has been a civilizing book, not- 
withstanding the proofs which it also gives 
of its origin among a people semi-barbarous 
through the greater part of its history. It has 
always held up a standard of morals above the 
people — a worship of Deity, ever inspiring them 
to higher and worthier ideas of duty. 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 9 

Nor is the Bible any the less the book of 
inspiration to-day. The ideal of our humanity 
is enshrined within its pages ; there it is, that 
God speaks to us of Himself — the Highest, 
Holiest One — worthiest of our adoration and 
oar love. The time never can come when men 
shall cease to find this truth in the Bible ; and 
this shall be the abiding testimony to the 
Divine Spirit which speaks to us through its 
pages. 

But it may be said that this is not all we 
find in the Bible ; some of the deeds which 
it commends, or tacitly approves, were barbar- 
ous — as the selfish cunning of Jacob, the mur- 
der of Sisera by Jael, the sacrifice of Jepthah's 
daughter, the slaughter of captives in war, the 
indiscriminate massacre of men, women and 
children, as by the command of God. True, 
there are portions of its history which are 
thought to be fabulous ; narratives ot fact, 
impossible and incredible — the sun and moon 
standing still at the voice of man, animals gifted 
with human speech, fire losing its property to 
burn, the order of nature arrested. When the 
mind is no loneer credulous of the literal truth 



io MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

of such narratives as these, what becomes of its 
faith ? 

The question would be a puzzling one, if 
belief and faith were one and the same thing. 
But the truth is, faith is the discernment of the 
spiritual truth in the Bible, which I have 
spoken of, as the true secret of its power at all 
times over the hearts and consciences of men. 
This truth is quite independent of very much 
in the letter of Scripture, to which a man may 
cither give or withhold a mere intellectual 
assent. One may doubt whether God actually 
wrote with his own hand the ten command- 
ments on two tables of stone ; but he may have 
the faith to see the Divine wisdom of the Deca- 
logue, and to obey its precepts. One may 
doubt whether a snake actually talked with our 
mother Eve, and persuaded her to eat the 
forbidden apple ; but he may see how truly the 
story tells of his own temptation, stifling the 
voice of conscience in yielding to the solicita- 
tions of lust. One may doubt whether God 
actually commanded the sacrifice of Isaac ; but 
he may have the faith to discern the noble life 
and character of Abraham. 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. u 

A true religious faith will never fail to find 
in the Bible, and in every part of it, the truth 
which has the power to influence the life and 
the character for good. It is this which attests 
its inspiration, and gives it a value above all 
other books. There is no book, beside, that 
contains so much of the Word of God ; not 
that each word in the Bible, made up of so 
many letters, is a word of God, spoken or 
written by Divine dictation, as one man would 
dictate to an amanuensis. On the contrary, 
each word in the Bible is the word of frail and 
fallible man, spoken and written as men may 
speak and write to-day in the exercise of their 
human faculties of memory, attention, imagina- 
tion, or under the influence of feelings and im- 
pulses, convictions and perceptions, more or 
less extraordinary ; and because each word is 
the word of man, there may be something of 
human imperfection in it. 

Therefore, if in reading the Bible critically, 
here and there a mistake, or a verbal inac- 
curacy shall be found ; or if we discover that 
the writer betrays some ignorance of natural 
phenomena, as made known through the science 



12 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

of today ; or if good men give utterance some- 
times to thoughts unworthy, as it seems to us, 
of God, or below the highest standard of mor- 
als, we may not conclude that its claim to 
Divine inspiration is unfounded. For, with all 
its literal and verbal imperfections, it contains 
the Word of God, i. e., the Wisdom of God 
revealed to man, for the guidance of human 
life. More than this, in its biographies of good 
men, and especially in the life of Jesus, it tells 
how the Word, or Wisdom of God, is incarna- 
ted in our humanity. Historically, therefore, 
it has a value beyond that of any other history. 
Now, because it contains the Word of God, 
we say, very truly, that the Bible is inspired. 
Holy men spake and wrote as they were moved 
by the Holy Ghost. They were moved or 
inspired to tell of the Word, or the Wisdom of 
God ; and the degree in which each part of the 
Bible is found to contain that wisdom, is the 
measure of its inspiration. Therefore, we may 
say that some parts of the Bible are more 
inspired than others. We find more of the 
Divine, and less of the human, in them, than 
elsewhere ; for we must not forget that the 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 13 

treasure of Divine wisdom was committed to 
earthen vessels. Though the writers were holy 
men, they were not perfect; though they were 
enlightened, they were not wholly exempt from 
error ; though inspired, they were not infallible. 

You will see from what has been said, the 
necessity often insisted upon here, of distin- 
guishing the spirit of Scripture from the letter. 
In the letter, which is human, there may be 
error ; or, if it be true itself, there may be error 
in the understanding, or the application of it. 
But the spirit, or inspired wisdom which it con- 
tains, is divine. When we are sure of discern- 
ing that, then we may know that we have the 
truth which the writers were moved by the 
Holy Ghost to teach. 

In surrendering the claim of Scripture to a 
verbal inspiration, we might seem to lessen our 
respect for its divine authority. Once admit 
that there can be any doubt of the literal truth 
of all its narratives, we can no longer read 
it with an implicit confidence, as the absolute 
and infallible Word of God. This is quite 
true. But when we come to see how it is, that 
God does speak to us by His spirit, through all 



14 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

these voices, and in all these narratives, not- 
withstanding the errors and imperfections of 
the human agents whom He employed, we shall 
have a much more stable ground for our confi- 
dence. It is because the belief of many per- 
sons, in these days, is shaken by much that 
is truly said about the Bible by unbelievers, 
that the need has become imperative of giving 
up a claim that cannot be made good, and 
urging another that can never be invalidated. 

I speak in the interest of a surer belief, a 
truer knowledge of the Scripture itself, and a 
profounder reverence for the Word of God. 
For of what value, after all, is a belief in the 
Bible that depends upon a false theory of 
inspiration ? If a man tell me he gives up his 
belief because he thinks the criticisms of such 
men as Mr. Ingersoll are just, and he cannot 
credit the story of the whale swallowing Jonah, 
and the iron swimming in the water, and many 
other marvels, then it is plain that the wisdom 
of which the Bible is full has escaped him alto- 
gether. He has not begun to understand its 
teaching of righteousness and judgment, of 
faith, and hope, and charity. 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 15 

The Bible does no good to one who does not 
read it understanding^', i. e., with an under- 
standing heart, to discern the main current 
of spiritual truth that runs through it from 
first to last. AH Scripture was written to teach 
this kind of truth ; as Paul says, it is profitable 
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for 
instruction in righteousness. Any one who 
reads it in the right spirit, will find this pur- 
pose underlying and pervading the whole of it ; 
even in those portions most open to criticism. 
Everywhere it shows how men were seeking to 
know and to do the right thing, and how, amid 
innumerable ignorances, and temptations, and 
difficulties, they were gradually led on toward 
the way, and the truth, and the life of Christ. 
The same spirit which inspired the Scriptures 
will give us the understanding to discover in 
them this their divine purpose and meaning, 
For the Spirit of the Lord giveth understand- 
ing. While we shall not be disturbed by any- 
thing false, we shall not fear to own the truth 
of whatever may be truly said, even by those 
who are most hostile in their unbelief. The worst 
that is said of the Bible will have no other effect in 



1 6 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

the end, than to turn the attention of good men 
all the more, to the real secret of its power 
by which, alone, its claim is made good to 
divine inspiration. Let us beware how we 
make anv other claim for it than this. Said 
the greatest of English divines : * " Whatsoever 
is spoken of God, or of things pertaining to God, 
otherwise than as the truth is ; though it seem an 
honor, is an injury. And, as incredible praises 
given unto men, do often abate, and impair the 
credit of their deserved commendation ; so we 
must, likewise, take great heed, lest in attributing 
unto Scripture more than it can have, the in- 
credibility of that, do cause even those things 
which indeed it hath most abundantly, to be less 
reverently esteemed? 

* Hooker's Ec. Pol. Lib. II. 



IT. 



Curing bp the itJorft of <©o5. 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 19 



II. 



LIVING BY THE WORD OF GOD 

It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but 
by ever)- word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God, 
— St. Matt., iv., 4. 

" It is written." Jesus meets the devil with 
Scripture. The devil, in turn, assails Jesus with 
Scripture. He, too, can say " It is written." 
And from that time to this the Scripture has 
been used in the interests alike of truth and of 
error. There is nothing morally good that good 
men do not find an approval of in its pages ; 
and there is much beside, which misguided and 
evil-minded men have made the occasion of 
scoffing and ridicule. Why this difference in 
the use and understanding of Scripture ? Is it 



20 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

owing to some defect in the Scripture itself ? or 
is the defect in the minds of those who read it ? 
Was the weapon that Jesus wielded the same 
with the one with which He was assailed ? and 
can the words of Holy Writ be bandied back 
and forth, and made to contradict each other, so 
as to destroy altogether its authority. Or is 
there a right way of reading it and a wrong 
way ? 

The difference between the devil's use of it 
and Jesus', was just this : In the hands of Jesus 
it was the sword of the Spirit, which is the word 
of God. In the hands of the devil it was the 
letter which killeth. The difference is the same 
among those who use it now. One reads with 
an understanding heart, and a discerning spirit ; 
to see the true, and the good, and the beauti- 
ful ; to make it his own ; to feed and nourish 
the conscious life within. Another reads it 
with an evil eye of unbelief; either hating the 
truth or indifferent to it, or it may be blinded 
to the light of it. With one it has an authority, 
because of the truth which it carries at once to 
a mind wedded to good affections. It is God's 
word, not merely because it is written, but be- 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 2 1 

cause it is true ; and what he sees to be true, 
he can no more deny than he can deny the 
reality of what he sees with his bodily eye. 

Another denies its divine authority, because 
in some portion of its contents he finds, or 
thinks he finds, the evidence of human error 
and imperfection ; and there, on the surface of 
the letter, which the hand of man has traced, he 
sticks, and doubts, and cavils, and rejects. Be- 
cause the meaning of Scripture is often veiled 
in figures, and sometimes clouded in mystery, 
and the light is dimmed by human infirmity 
(for the light of heaven must ever come through 
a medium that is earthly), he will close his eyes 
against it, and deny that the sun is shining. 

How idle it would be now, to turn aside from 
the truth in those words which Jesus used, 
about living by the Word of God, to inquire 
whether the temptation, as narrated in Scrip- 
ture, occurred actually in a personal interview 
between him and the devil ; and then, if we 
could not believe in a personal devil, nor accept 
the details of the narrative, in their very letter, 
to reject the whole as a fable ! Is it not much 
the wiser way, to study the meaning of those 



22 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

words, and inquire if there be not some truth in 
them which we can take to ourselves? 

I freely admit that there is much in the Bible 
that is of no earthly use whatever on the mere 
casual and careless reading of it; and much, 
too, that we shall only stumble at and puzzle 
our minds over in vain, if we read only in a 
curious and critical spirit. But if we make the 
Scriptures our study, to know and to live the 
truth in them, in the spirit of the prayer which 
we offer to-day,* then we shall find them to be, 
in very deed, the Word of the living God. In 
this spirit, then, let us try, by God's help, to 
discover the meaning of our text; " It is writ- 
ten, man shall not live by bread alone, but by 
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of 
God!' 

What does Jesus mean by living, by the 

* Colled for the Second Sunday in Advent. — Blessed 
Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for 
our learning ; grant that we may in such wise hear them, 
read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by 
patience, and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, 
and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, 
which thou hast given us, in our Saviour Jesus Christ. 






MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 23 

Word of God? He is quoting the words of 
Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy — viii., 3. 
It is a chapter in the history of Israel, in which 
Moses is reminding the people of the various 
providences by which the Lord had been lead- 
ing them through the wilderness. " Thou shalt 
remember," he says, " all the way which the 
Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the 
wilderness ; to humble thee, and to prove thee, 
to know what was in thine heart, whether thou 
wouldst keep His commandments or no. And 
He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, 
and fed thee with manna which thou knewest 
not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might 
make thee know that man doth not live by 
bread only, but by every word that proceedeth 
out of the mouth of the Lord, doth man live." 
All these providences of God, then, to Israel, 
all these experiences of life in the wilderness, 
the trials they had borne, the privations they 
had suffered, the humbling of their pride, the 
severe tests of their obedience,— all these hard 
and unwelcome methods of discipline, no less 
than the blessings which attended them, were 
so many means of making known to men the 



24 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

Word of God, by which, and according to which, 
they should live. Indeed, by these very means 
God was giving them their true life. His care 
was over them for the food and raiment they 
required, as it is over the birds of the air and 
the beasts of the field. For forty years they 
were sustained in a wonderful manner in the 
wilderness. At their desire He brought quails; 
and He filled them with the bread of heaven. 
He opened the rock of stone, and the waters 
flowed out, so that rivers ran in the dry places." 
But another life was theirs than that of the 
birds of the air and the beasts of the field, and 
His care was over that. His Word, by which 
He is ever speaking in nature, and by which 
the natural life is sustained, is also spoken in 
the law of their spiritual life. By all the dis- 
pensations of His providence, whether of good 
or ill, He is nourishing and developing that life 
in His people. And the great lesson that he 
was teaching Israel in the wilderness, and all 
through the vicissitudes of their good and evil 
fortune, was the one which Moses declared — 
that they should live not by bread only, even if 
it rained down as manna from the heavens, and 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 25 

could be had without the labor of their own 
hands, but by every word that God should 
speak to them ; by the things which they 
suffered, as well as by the things which they 
enjoyed ; by their wants, no less than by the 
supply of their wants; by the punishment of 
their sins, no less than by the rewards of their 
obedience; by the consequences of their mis- 
takes and their follies, and their ignorances, no 
less than by the more welcome tokens of the 
goodness and loving kindness of their God. 

The voice of God never comes but from the 
heart of love. But it must needs come to His 
people sometimes in tones of rebuke, and re- 
proof, and of warning. " Thou shalt consider in 
thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, 
so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee." And 
to what end this discipline ? That he might 
humble thee, and prove thee, to do the good at 
thy latter end." 

Even so God speaks to his people to-day, and 
always ; by the manifold experiences both of 
blessing and of chastening. There are various 
graces which enter into the spiritual life most 
precious in the sight of God. We need that 



26 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

His Word shall come to us by means best 
fitted to cherish, and develop these. If our 
wills were never crossed, and our wishes always 
gratified, in the pride of our hearts we might 
forget the good Giver of all earthly blessings. 
We need, therefore, as Israel did, to be hum- 
bled. And God is constantly reminding us, in 
one way or another, of the uncertain tenure by 
which these blessings are held. It is not 
enough that we read of what He would tell us 
in His written word. We need to hear his 
voice directly speaking to ourselves. And he 
does speak to us often very plainly, in a way 
most humbling to the pride of life — by His 
afflicting providences, in sickness or death, in 
the loss of property or friends, — in whatever we 
suffer, by our own fault, or the fault ot others. 
There is the grace of patience, too. How 
would this be wanting, if there were nothing in 
life to try it ? How could we learn to bear the 
cross with the Master, and know of the love 
whereof it tells, if the cross were never laid 
upon ourselves ? We certainly should not 
assume it willingly, in the forms best fitted for 
the perfecting of our spiritual life. 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 2J 

There are artificial forms of self-denial which 
misguided souls have sometimes used ; but, I 
think the Word of God comes to us most in 
those duties and trials, by which He is ever 
exercising the patience and loving kindness of 
His saints. 

Jesus pronounces a benediction upon the 
merciful. And how shall the grace of mercy 
be ours, unless, in the providence of God, the 
occasions of mercy shall sometimes arise before 
us : nay, more than that, unless the Word of 
God shall remind us that we are the objects of 
His mercy, and that we are to be merciful, even 
as our Father in Heaven is merciful. Wonder- 
ful, indeed, is the fact, that the world's injus- 
tice and cruelty should have given the spectacle 
of divine mercy and compassion in the cross of 
Christ. And shall not the Word of God, that 
tells of that tender mercy come to us in every 
sight of the pain and wretchedness that sin has 
brought into the world? 

That was a grand development of physical 
and intellectual life among the ancient Greeks 
and Romans. But the grace of mercy was 
wanting. The grace and truth which came by 



28 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

Jesus Christ have met that want, in the higher 
type of human life and character which we call 
Christian. For in every form of suffering ndw 
known to the world, we hear the voice of God, 
not only pleading in pity, by the sympathy 
which fills our hearts, but commanding bv the 
behests of duty in the conscience, to mitigate 
that suffering, and remove, so far as possible, 
the causes of it. 

May I not speak of the Christian's hope, as a 
part of that higher life which comes to us by 
the Word of God? If we had all that the 
heart could wish in the present hour; if the 
soul were satisfied by the things we see, then 
were this our natural life complete. We should 
need to be cheered by no vision of faith — no 
hope of the things which God hath prepared 
for them that love Him. But there is a Word of 
God that comes to our ears, and tells us of good 
things which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard. 
The joys of earth are but the shadows of an 
eternal substance. This belief of ours in a life 
beyond the grave, and these hopes and aspira- 
tions after it, are themselves the Word of God, 
assuring us of its reality. We should not 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 29 

understand the written word that tells about 
tliem, unless there were a voice within, which 
answers to that word, and which the Spirit 
i>ives to confirm it. All the means we use to 

o 

increase our faith, and nourish our hope — the 
word that is preached to us, the thoughts that 
are stirred within us, by what we hear and 
what we read, these are God's Word, to nourish 
the hidden life. 

Herein lies in great part the value of the 
Scriptures to us ; that beside the revelation 
they convey concerning God, and the life eter- 
nal, they are the record of the means which 
God has employed in times past to impart of 
that life to His people. We see how good men 
have lived before us ; we have the examples of 
their faith and love, their patience and hopg. 
As the Apostle says in the Epistle : " What- 
soever things were written aforetime, were 
written for our learning ; that we through 
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might 
have hope." We see by what discipline, and 
by what knowledge, the hidden life of the Spirit 
was nourished in the saints of old ; and we are 
encouraged to believe that by the like process 



30 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

it will be nourished now, and in all the days to 
come. 

The Bible is most precious to us, as contain- 
ing the fullest account in the world of the 
spiritual culture of the race — not the only 
account, because all history furnishes materials 
for the same knowledge. But it tells more 
fully and more truly how God comes into con- 
tact with His people, and speaks to them, as it 
were, face to face ; and how that word has been 
profitable to them for teaching, and reproof, and 
instruction in righteousness. This was said by 
the Apostle, of the Old Testament Scriptures. 
They witnessed (as the word Testament means,) 
of God, and of eternal life, though far less per- 
fectly than do the Scriptures of the New, which 
convey the knowledge of that life in Jesus 
Christ. 

But in our reverence for the Book which 
contains the record of what God has spoken in 
times gone by, let us not think that He has 
ceased to speak to His people, and that we have 
no need that He should continue to speak to us 
now. His word must come to us as in times 
past, by all His various providences, and by the 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 31 

manifold experiences which befall us. We 
should have wrong thoughts of Him, as the 
living God, if we did not believe this; and 
wrong thoughts of the life that comes from 
Him, if we did not think how :'c is generated, 
and nourished, and developed by the Divine 
Spirit, in and through the events of our natural 
life. 

It was this faith which sustained Jesus in the 
hour of His temptation, and no less in the hour 
of His want, and His sorrow. He was in the 
wilderness ; but God would feed Him without 
a miracle. He would wait patiently for the 
word of duty. For the word of comfort, and 
consolation, and hope, should come with it, and 
in the strength of that bread from Heaven, He 
would finish the work that His Father gave 
Him to do. And the life that was His from 
the Father, He would give to them that believed 
in His Name. For he would give Himself for 
the life of the world : " And if any man eat of 
this bread, he shall live forever." 



Ill 



£)Otu to ftcao tl)c Sibic. 



III. 

HOW TO READ THE BIBLE. 

"Blessed are your eyes, for they see." — Matt.xiii., 16.* 

How shall we read the Bible? In one of 
the celebrated " Essays and Reviews," published 
some twenty years ago in England, the writer f 
says : " The Bible is to be read like any other 
book." This is true, in respect of the mere 
intellectual judgment to be passed upon its 
contents. But we find that persons of equal 
intellect understand the Bible very differently, 
and are variously affected by what they read. 

One sees in its pages the manifest proofs 
of divine wisdom ; another, the evidences of 
priestly imposture. The religious faith of one 

* Preached on the 2d Sunday in Advent, 1880. 
t Prof. Jowett. 



36 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

is quickened as he reads, and the spirit of 
devotion stirred within him. In the mind of 
another, the Scriptures are the subject of a 
cold and cynical criticism. 

Now, it is quite true, that persons equally- 
gifted with intellect may differ in their judg- 
ment of any book. But there is no book in the 
world, in the estimate of which, the two ex- 
tremes of reverence and atheistic scorn have 
met, as they have met upon the Bible. Nor 
does the difference arise altogether from a 
traditional respect for authority, on the one 
side, and a jealous concern for intellectual 
freedom, on the other. There is that in the 
Book itself, the presence of which is discovered 
by some minds as it is not by others — some- 
thing which requires, for the apprehension of it, 
a gift quite distinct from any that we call intel- 
lectual. This peculiar characteristic of the 
Book itself is known among religious people as 
inspiration. 

It is believed that ^ood men, at various 
times, have spoken and written as they were 
moved by the Holy Ghost ; and that the gift of 
the same Spirit is bestowed for the right under- 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 37 

standing of their recorded words. This is the 
Scripture doctrine of inspiration. The gift 
itself to the sacred writers is not defined ; 
neither is it limited in time. Its presence is 
attested, in some of the Scriptures, in a much 
higher degree than in others. In determining 
the Canon of Scripture, the Christian Church 
passes its judgment upon the books most worthy 
to be received as inspired; not denying inspira- 
tion, however, to others, nor declaring that holy 
men have ceased to speak as they are moved 
by the Holy Ghost. 

The sayings of Jesus bear witness to a 
Divine Spirit of wisdom, above all others. 
They have been listened to, for many centuries, 
with reverent interest, as to the very Word of 
God, by which, more fully than by any other 
sayings, the mind of God has been revealed. 
Yet men have greatly differed in their under- 
standing of them. To those who had eyes to 
see, and ears to hear, His parables were beauti- 
ful illustrations of spiritual truth. To others, 
they were enigmas, unintelligible and confusing. 
Nicodemus, a master in Israel, was blind to the 
meaning of the new birth by the Spirit. The 



38 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

woman of Samaria understood Him not, when 
He told of the living water that He could give 
to her to drink. Nor could some of His disci- 
ples see the truth in those other words of 
Jesus: "As the living Father hath sent Me, 
and I live by the Father, so he that eateth Me, 
even he shall live by Me." It was a hard say- 
ing : " Who can hear it ? " Jesus answers : 
" The words that I speak unto you, they are 
Spirit, and they are life." 

It may seem strange to those who have been 
long familiar with the words of Jesus, that His 
meaning should have been so grossly miscon- 
ceived. To many, indeed, the whole story of 
the blindness of His hearers seems incredible. 
It has been made the ground of much hostile 
criticism, especially directed against the Gospel 
of St. John. But multitudes to-day, are hardly 
less blind in the hearing and reading of His 
recorded words. Many who reverence the 
letter of them, discern not the live-giving spirit 
which they enfold. None the less strange, are 
the materializing notions of the flesh and blood 
of Jesus, to which ecclesiastics tenaciously 
cling, as to the very substance of Christian 



MORE WORDS ABOUT Tin?. BIBLE. 39 

doctrine. Blind to the truth itself, they do not 
see how fatal these traditions are to a spiritual 
faith ; nor the occasion they give to the sneers 
and scoffs of unbelief. 

It is in the like failure to discern the spirit 
of Scripture teaching, and the misapprehension 
of its entire scope and substance, that men seek 
to discredit its truth as the Word of God. 
There is much, it is said, in the Old Testament, 
having the sanction of Divine command, which 
shocks the moral sense of our own time. It is 
not seen, how, in the worship of Jehovah, Israel 
was but slowly approaching a more worthy con- 
ception of the One true God ; how the revela- 
tion of Himself to the darkened hearts of men 
was of necessity an imperfect one, fitted to the 
mental and social conditions of the time. 

The Word of God in Scripture does not lie 
everywhere on the surface, to be picked up by 
every passer-by. It must be sought for as for 
hid treasure. One must needs be taught of the 
Spirit to trace the golden threads through the 
warp and woof of poetry and legend, myth and 
history, vision and prophecy, in which they are 
interwoven. Neither a blind bibliolatrv, nor a 



40 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

scornful criticism, will discover the truth which 
God therein reveals. It is for him who inclines 
his ear to wisdom, and his heart to under- 
standing. 

There is nothing to fear from a criticism of 
the Bible that is reverent and sincere. The 
time demands it. The growing intelligence of 
the people requires it, at the hands of those who 
claim to be their teachers in religion. That 
blasphemy like Mr. Ingersoll's finds so large a 
hearing among honest men, is largely the fault 
of religious teachers themselves. The truth 
which he speaks must not be denied, that the 
truth to which he is blind may be brought 
more clearly into the light. 

Nor will any wisdom of the world invalidate 
the authority of Scripture as a Divine revela- 
tion. It will only help, in the end, to enlighten 
the minds of men as to the true nature of that 
authority. The various methods of destructive 
criticism are constantly neutralizing each other; 
and out of them all, and over them all, a 
method of interpretation has arisen, which 
amply vindicates the claim of Scripture to a 
Divine inspiration — and with what result? The 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 41 

blind reverence for the form in which the truth 
is conveyed, is exchanged for a spiritual dis- 
cernment of the substance of the truth itself. 
This, we may well believe, is the special work 
of the Spirit of Truth which Jesus promised to 
His disciples. Ours is emphatically the dispen- 
sation of the Spirit ; and if we believe, as we 
ought, in God, our faith also in the guiding 
presence of the Spirit of God, will not be 
wanting. 

This faith will not cease to discern in the 
Bible the best Word of God for the spiritual 
culture of the human race, antiquated as it is in 
language, and telling of customs and manners, 
of thoughts and beliefs, quite foreign to our 
own. For, under this antique garb, we behold 
the same essential manhood as our own — the 
same living, throbbing heart of humanity, that 
beats in our own breasts to-day — the same con- 
scious needs of our higher nature — the same 
faith in a righteous God — whose power is in- 
voked on the side of all righteous endeavor. 
Its moral and spiritual truth is the one pre- 
cious coin that passes current among all na- 
tions and through all time. The Word of 



42 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

God is stamped upon it. It is never debased, 
and its value never fluctuates. Its command- 
ments are as needful to-day as in the days of 
Moses. They are as of binding authority in 
America, as they were in Judea. 

We prize the literature of the ancient Greeks 
and Romans. It enters largely into our modern 
civilization ; the culture of our day would be 
very imperfect without it. But the ethical 
element derived from the Hebrew and Christian 
Scriptures, that makes our civilization distinct- 
ively Christian, is incomparably more precious 
than any other. 

We test the value of a work of genius by 
the measure of truth and of beauty, which it 
conveys to the human soul without distinction of 
race or of nation. Apply this test to the 
poetry of the Psalms, and the pure gold at once 
appears. It is as precious to-day, as when 
chanted of old on the hill of Zion. Jew and 
Gentile sing together its notes of praise to the 
great Jehovah ; and its words, of sorrow and of 
longing, of gladness and of triumph, are still 
the fitting utterance of believing hearts through- 
out the world. 






MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 43 

To prove the value of Scripture we need no 
theory of inspiration. We need not suppose 
that every syllable of it was dictated by the 
Holy Ghost; that there is not a verbal error, 
nor a chronological mistake in all its pages ; 
and that we are bound to receive the letter of 
it all, as infallibly the Word of God. 

Let me beg of you to dismiss from your 
minds at once, and forever, this mechanical 
theory of inspiration. It is a damage to the 
authority of Scripture itself as a Divine revela- 
tion. It is unworthy of your faith in God. If 
He had once given His word in this manner, 
He must also have provided that no possible 
mistake should be made in the transcribing and 
translating of it. Men spake in times past as 
they were moved by the Holy Ghost ; but they 
spake in their own tongues, and in the exercise 
of their natural faculties, subject, of necessity, 
to human imperfection. They spake of the 
Infinite One, and truly, so far as it was given 
them to know. But their knowledge was con- 
fessedly limited. They spake, too, as men were 
prepared in heart and in mind to receive the 
truth. For this reason, many of the uttered 



44 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

thoughts concerning God in the Old Testa- 
ment, are addressed to a semi-barbarous people, 
incapable of the spiritual illumination of later 
times. The people that sat in darkness saw a 
great light ; but they saw it distantly and 
dimly, as through clouds of ignorance and 
superstition. 

Revealed truth, at the best, as it comes to us 
in the Gospel of Christ, is not absolute, but 
relative. We can know only in part. We 
cannot see now as we shall see. But as the 
ray divine beams into our souls, we are to wel- 
come it, and walk in the light, longing and 
praying that our eyes may be opened more 
and more to its glory. " Blessed are your eyes, 
for they see." Unhappily, as in the days of 
Jesus, so now, there are those who, having 
eyes, see not the things which God reveals by 
the Spirit. They stick at the letter of Scrip- 
ture, in the traditional belief, that the truth, 
and nothing but the truth, can always be found 
in this ; or, rejecting its narratives as fabulous 
and false, they throw discredit upon the moral 
and spiritual teaching which they help to con- 
vev. The truth of Christ has been crucified 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 45 

for near two thousand years between these two 
errors. Let us hope, that by the power of the 
Holy Ghost, a truer and more Spiritual Christi- 
anity, is arising and spreading itself throughout 
the world. 

Very strange it seems, that men have been 
so slow of heart to enter into the spirit of the 
Master's teaching; that the same blindness 
which happened, in part, unto Israel, should have 
reappeared among His disciples. Caiaphas 
found his warrant in the Jewish law, for con- 
demning Jesus to death. And Christians have 
justified, in like manner, the hanging of witches 
and the burning of heretics. The Mormon 
reads his Bible, and discovers there the right- 
fulness of polygamy, and the approval of assas- 
sination. By the letter of Scripture, the clergy 
of our land maintained, for many years, the 
Divine institution of slavery. An aged patri- 
arch pronounces a curse upon his grandson, 
and this is alleged as the cause sufficient for 
transmitting that curse to his posterity forever. 

That which especially constitutes the Divine 
character of Scripture, and authenticates it as a 
revelation of God, may not be discerned at all 



46 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

by one most familiar with its pages. It is the 
natural man who reads, and not the spiritual. 
None more familiar with Scripture than the 
Scribes in the time of Jesus. But their minds 
were blinded by their interests, their prejudices, 
and their fears. " Even unto this day," said 
Paul, "the vail is upon their heart/' They 
could find in the law of Moses, an eye for an 
eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But they were 
blind to the law of love which Jesus discovered. 
What Moses allowed for the hardness of men's 
hearts, was plain enough ; but the more perfect 
law of wedded life from the beginning, had 
escaped them. Cursing, as well as blessing, 
was in the letter; but they knew not the Spirit 
whereof Jesus enlightened them, when he said : 
" Bless, and curse not." " Search the Script- 
ures," said Jesus, again, to these blind guides, 
" for in them ye think ye have eternal life ; and 
they are they which testify of Me." They 
searched the Scriptures diligently, but they did 
not find in them eternal life — the true knowl- 
edge of God, and of His Christ. The Old 
Testament was full of the testimony of Jesus. 
It was the spirit of all prophecy ; but it was not 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 47 

revealed to them. A carnal Christ they could 
find, but not a Spiritual ; a King to crush their 
enemies, and minister to their pride, but not a 
King to reign in righteousness ; a Prince, ex- 
alted to the thror_e of David, but not a Prince 
anointed above his fellows by the Spirit of 
Holiness. 

No ; the suffering Christ of prophecy was 
not for them, nor an humble Christ, nor a poor 
Christ, though the Scriptures were full of the 
truth that the highest glory of humanity could 
be reached only through the ministry of suffer- 
ing. And so it was, that when the King of 
Truth appeared, He was to them, as " a root out 
of a dry ground, with no form nor comeliness ; 
and when they saw Him, there was no beauty 
that they should desire Him." 

Alas! that words like these should be still 
fulfilled in an evil heart of unbelief. The 
Christ of prophecy, and the Christ of history, 
are alike rejected of men. Nor is it the unbe- 
lief of the world, so called, alone, that fails to 
receive the witness of the Spirit to the grace 
and truth of Christ in Holy Scripture. The 
vail has been upon the hearts of Christians 



48 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

themselves. How else can we account for the 
persecuting spirit that has darkened the annals 
of the Christian Church ? Is it not the stand- 
ing proof of the blindness of the human heart, 
that the very followers of the loving Jesus 
should have persecuted, even unto death, their 
fellow disciples, and that, not for their misdeeds, 
but for their beliefs and opinions ? Can there be 
a more signal perversion of the truth as it is in 
Jesus, that men of blameless life, faithfully 
teaching the truths which the Master uttered, 
and confessedly illustrating, both in word and 
deed, the Spirit of the Master Himself, should 
be branded as heretics, and driven out from the 
fellowship of their brethren in Christ? 

No doubt, men have been sincere, in thus 
" driving away from the Church erroneous and 
strange doctrines ; " as Saul was, in persecuting 
from city to city the unoffending Christians, 
verily believing that he was doing God's ser- 
vice. But a zeal so mistaken can hardly be 
numbered among those gifts of the Spirit which 
Jesus promised to His disciples. No. The 
King of Truth did not seek the triumph of His 
gospel of peace by means like this. He did not 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 49 

call down the wrath of Heaven, which His dis- 
ciples invoked upon the head of him who was 
casting out devils in His name, because he 
followed not with them. The Spirit of Jesus 
was a spirit of unity and brotherly love. He 
sought to bring together the outcasts of Israel, 
and the dispersed of Judah — to fulfil the pro- 
phetic vision of the day, " when Ephraim should 
not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex 
Ephraim." 

Surely in these days, the gifts of the Spirit 
are not to divide and antagonize the disciples 
of Christ. Paul tells of the diversity of gifts in 
the Christian Church. But all these, he says, 
" worketh that one and the selfsame spirit." 
And the end of this working is the edifying of 
the Body in love — the manifestation of the 
Spirit of Christ in the hearts and lives of its 
members. Let them differ in their modes of 
doing good — in their choice of religious teach- 
ers ; this one preferring Paul, that one following 
Cephas, or Apollos ; let them differ in their 
word of knowledge, in their views of religious 
truth, in the honest expression of their opin- 
ions ; if, indeed, they are baptized into the 



5 o MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

Spirit of Christ, they are His. Nor has He 
given authority to any Church on earth to cut 
off, or degrade from His ministry, a member of 
His Body, who is united to Him in spirit. 

One may have wrong opinions about the 
Bible and its interpretation. It is the office of 
the Spirit of Truth to convince him of his 
error. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, the 
truth will be spoken in love. Where the Spirit 
of the Lord is, there, too, is liberty, that men 
may inquire for the truth freely, and speak it 
honestly as they discern it. One who holds it 
otherwise than in love, is more in error than he 
whose opinions, though erroneous, are held 
without a breach of charity. 

" Blessed are your eyes, for they see." Un- 
speakably precious is the revelation of God in 
the gospel of Jesus Christ. To the mind of 
Paul, it was a light shining out of darkness, — 
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God 
in the face of Jesus Christ. Now that the 
scales had fallen from his eyes, and the vision 
of faith was given him, he read the Scriptures 
as he had never read them before. The light 
was thrown back upon them, and he saw the 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 51 

Spirit long hid beneath the letter. They were 
now full of Christ, and he would fain tear away 
the veil from the hearts of his countrymen, that 
they, too, might see with him, how the words of 
Moses, and of all the prophets, were fulfilled in 
Him, and His ministry of love. 

Let it not be said that the spirit of Saul the 
persecutor, is still rife in the Christian Church, 
but, rather, the large hearted spirit of Paul the 
Apostle. How, indeed, can the victory of the 
King of Truth be made complete, save by the 
speaking, and living the truth in love. Jesus 
will have lived in vain, and died in vain, if His 
followers shall fail to understand and act upon 
this, the method of His ministry. Nor will all 
the prayers of the Church avail for the coming 
of the Holy Ghost the Comforter, except as 
they invoke the Divine Spirit that was His, as 
for the guidance into all truth, so for the peace- 
ful and loving union of all true hearts through- 
out the world : " That they all may be one, as 
Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that 
they also may be one in us ; that the world 77tay 
believe that Thou hast s£?it Me!' 



IV. 



tl)c 0jrivit of tatl). 



IV. 

THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH 

I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot 
bear them now ; howbeit when He the Spirit of Truth is 
come, He will guide you into all truth. — St. John, xvi., 
12 and 13.* 

One who reads the sayings of Jesus atten- 
tively, will be struck with the variety of His 
discourse. His words are addressed to persons 
differing very widely in their powers of mental 
and spiritual apprehension. There is food for 
babes and strong meat for men. There are 
pearls of Divine wisdom, not to be cast before 
swine ; and there are good things for common 
use, in the every day life of the believer. Sim- 
plicity and profundity go hand in hand ; His 
parables conceal, at the same time, that they 
illustrate His meaning. He is speaking the 
truth for all men, and for all time. He is 
preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and lay- 
ing the foundations of an empire of spiritual 

* Preached xvth Sunday after Trinity, 1879. 



56 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

thought and spiritual life, into which the world 
of our humanity may be gathered. The salva- 
tion of all men was the burden of His teaching, 
but His doctrine had a secret of its own, to the 
knowledge of which His nearest disciples were 
but slowly and partially admitted. Not even to 
the inner circle, within which the mysteries of 
the Kingdom were disclosed, could the whole 
mind of the Master be made known. The time 
had not yet come. " I have many things to say 
unto you, but ye cannot bear them now ; how- 
beit, when He the Spirit of Truth is come, He 
will guide you into all truth." 

And herein the teaching of Jesus is not singu- 
lar. Everyone familiar with the education of 
children, or who recalls the processes of his 
own mental development, knows very well, how 
the truth, to be apprehended, must be suited to 
the various degrees, and the several stages in 
the growth of the understanding. The knowl- 
edge only of appearances comes first; the 
knowledge of unseen causes and hidden reali- 
ties comes afterwards, and more slowly, and is 
never attained in its fulness. 

So the human race has been educated from 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 57 

the beginning by Infinite Wisdom, both in 
things temporal and things eternal. Jesus, 
whom the Christian faith identified, with this 
wisdom, revealed and personified, in the propa- 
gation of the truth which he received from the 
Father, is conscious of its limitations in his 
own personal ministry; He predicts the onward 
movement of spiritual illumination in the ages 
to follow. The "many things" which he re- 
served, were, no doubt, akin to the things which 
he said. The germ of all Christian doctrine, 
as developed afterwards in the Apostolic writ- 
ings, is contained in the Evangelical narrative ; 
but the truth, as recorded in both, should be 
still further unfolded by the Spirit to the mind 
and heart of Christian believers to the end of 
time. All that it was necessary for men to 
know, for the right conduct of life, with the 
conditions and the assurance of the life eternal ; 
. all that related to the maintenance and growth 
of the Kingdom of God on earth, the propaga. 
tion of essential religious truth, and the 
overthrow of error, should be preserved and 
developed according to the exigencies of the 
Christian Church, and the ever changing atti- 



58 MORE WORDS ABOUT l^HE BIBLE. 

tude of the world toward her. The religious 
truth which Jesus taught, should have, through 
the informing agency of the Divine Spirit, the 
power of adaptation to every mind, and every 
age — not, indeed, to the exclusion, but to the 
ultimate conquest of error ; not to the posses- 
sion of all knowledge, securing certitude and 
immunity from doubt; nor yet, relieving the 
individual mind from inquiry. Rather does the 
truth of which Jesus discoursed, impose the 
duty of inquiry. Men were to take heed how 
they heard, and how they understood his 
words. The possibility of misconception, and 
perversion of his meaning, should be theirs ; 
much should be left for an ever-growing men- 
tal and spiritual apprehension, requiring, on the 
part of the disciple, a sincere love of the truth, 
and an earnest seeking after it. But these con- 
ditions met, the promise was given of all need- 
ful guidance by the Divine Spirit. Scripture 
itself should contain all things necessary to 
salvation, and for the rightful interpretation of 
Scripture, the gift of the Holy Ghost should 
ever be accorded to the faithful. No believer 
should perish for the lack of knowledge. 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 59 

As the Gospel ministry was commissioned 
by our Lord to teach and disciple the nations, 
so it should be fully equipped and furnished 
with spiritual gifts for all its ministerial func- 
tions. Believers should be taught, that they 
might teach others through all time. The 
deposit of religious truth should be safe in their 
hands. They should be able to defend it 
against error and unbelief. They should bring 
it into accord with kindred truths, and adapt it, 
as to the wise and simple, so, also, to the vary- 
ing conditions of human knowledge; even as 
Paul commended the Gospel to the wise and 
the unwise, the Jew and the Gentile, the Greek 
and the Barbarian. They should continue to 
teach and to preach forever to all nations, and 
to every creature, the unchangeable truths of 
the Gospel of Christ. The Divine afflatus, 
breathed upon his true disciples, should never 
be wanting. The inspiration of the Almighty, 
which in all ages hath given understanding, 
should never fail while the earth and the 
inhabitants thereof continued. 

The promise of Christ, then, is fulfilled in 
the ministry of all disciples upon whom the 



60 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE, 

gift of teaching is conferred. But it is not con- 
fined to these. The promise is made to the 
whole body of the faithful, and to every be- 
liever in particular. All should be taught of 
the Holy Ghost, and all be led into the way of 
truth, in so far as that way should be identified 
with the way of life. Every seeker after the 
truth of God, and the wisdom of God, for the 
life which now is, and that which is to come, 
should find the treasure which he sought. 
Such, unquestionably, is the meaning of the 
Saviour's promise to His disciples. We cannot 
limit it to any class or order of men. The 
Kingdom of Heaven is open to all believers, 
and the Spirit of Truth, that shall guide to an 
entrance therein, and the possession of its 
treasures of wisdom and knowledge according 
to the measure of his capacity, is denied to 
none. Such is the promise ! Do we believe 
it? And have we any evidence in human 
experience upon which our faith may rest ? In 
the inquiry of the soul concerning the realities 
which lie beyond the domain of things known 
and demonstrable, in the mazes of speculation, 
through which the human mind is ever wander- 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 6 1 

ing, have we any security against essential 
error, any guaranty that the treasure of Divine 
Truth shall be our's with increasing fulness ? 

The world is full of books upon religious 
subjects. An almost countless host of men 
have no other occupation than the teaching of 
religious beliefs. If they were all agreed in 
what they teach, there would be a presumption 
of truth but little short of certainty, in such 
teaching. But instead of agreement, we find 
diversity. There are different religions, each 
asserting its superior claim to the possession of 
truth. The Christian Church itself is divided 
into a multitude of sects, differing verv widelv 
among themselves in doctrine. What criterion 
of truth is furnished us ? What test of the 
validity of these opposing claims? The ap- 
peal might be made to the Bible. But Chris- 
tians differ in their interpretation of that. Or 
it might be made to some living visible 
authority. The Roman Catholic abides by the 
infallible declarations of the Pope ; but the 
Protestant will not credit the fact of Papal 
infallibility. The Anglo-Catholic submits his 
judgment to the voice of the Church; but the 






62 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

visible Church herself is a body of frail and 
fallible men. The authority to teach with 
which her ministry is invested does not carry 
with it exemption from error. She is a witness 
and keeper of the truth, but every page of her 
history attests the imperfection of her knowl- 
edge. She is the Ecclesia docens only as she 
submits herself to be taught by the Holy Ghost. 
Where her demand of submission is most 
urgent, there the living representatives of her 
authority are the least to be trusted. We see, 
then, that a condition of absolute immunity 
from error is impossible. All history is a 
record of the conflict between truth and error, 
as between good and evil. Now, it is through 
this conflict that knowledge is increased and 
wisdom imparted. The human race has un- 
questionably made no small gains in both. 
But how have these gains been secured ? First, 
I should say, by the transmission of knowledge 
and wisdom from one age and generation to 
another, each one adding its own tribute, and 
its own conquests, to the stock received. But 
suppose the people in one age of the Church, 
or the world, should say " there is no truth to hi 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 63 

desired except that which they have received 
from their fathers. They are content with 
that ; they have nothing to add to it by their 
own labor or inquiry." Would it not be, under 
the cover of humility and reverence for the 
past, an assertion of their own freedom from 
error, an avowal of an indolence, and indiffer- 
ence, and want of faith, fatal to the truth itself, 
as a living, growing power in the world ? 

Or suppose, on the other hand, it should be 
said, that " the traditions of the past are worth- 
less ; that we have only to profit by its errors 
and follies. The only knowledge worth having, 
must be of our own seeking and our own 
getting." Is an attitude of self-sufficiency like 
this, the one most favorable to the increase of 
knowledge, or the growth in wisdom ? It will 
be found that the conquests of truth, with all 
life, and growth, and progress in the knowledge 
of it, have been made only where the two prin- 
ciples of respect for authority, and freedom of 
inqtciry, have been jointly operative. The civili- 
zation of our own day is the product both of 
ancient and modern thought. The truth of 
Christianity is the testimony of believers in 



64 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

every age, all speaking as the Spirit gives them 
utterance. To imagine God as no longer active 
in creation, were an unworthy conception of 
Deity. None the more worthy of a Christian's 
faith is the thought of the Divine Spirit of 
of Wisdom, as ever ceasing to inspire His 
Church, or failing to fulfil the promise made to 
believers. If this promise be not the pledge to 
each, or to all, of a perfect knowledge, it is one 
on which the believer may rest in the secure 
possession of all that he is able to receive, and 
of all that is needful for his salvation. What 
more does he need to know, than that which he 
may learn from day to day by the teachings of 
the written and the preached Word of God, 
with the spirit of inquiry in which he himself 
may search, with all the helps of human learn- 
ing, for its hidden treasures? Let him not 
hope to know the truth, if either of these means 
be neglected. Let him not fear that he shall 
be misled when both are employed together. 
" God helps them who help themselves." He 
teaches those who desire to be taught, and who 
will use as they best can, the privileges and 
faculties which He has bestowed. He has 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 65 

given us the Bible, that we may study it ; He 
has given us the teachings of the Church, that 
we may listen to them, and ponder them in 
our hearts ; He has given us understanding and 
reason, that they may be exercised in the way 
of Wisdom ; and in various measure, He has 
given, and has pledged in yet fuller measure, 
the guidance of His Spirit into all 1 truth. Shall 
we fear to trust him for the result ? Shall we. 
presume to limit Him in the exercise of His 
enlightning power through the ages to come? 
If you ask me what guaranty we have that 
we shall be led into the way of truth, I answer 
that we have the character of God himself ; the 
confidence of a reasonable faith in an all-wise 
and all-lovino- Father. We have the witness of 
our own spirits to the truth which Jesus de- 
clared to His Disciples. We have the sure 
word of prophecy in Scripture, whereunto we 
do well that we take heed, as unto a light that 
shineth in a dark place. We have evidence 
beside, that God is leading his people, even 
through the wilderness of doubts and fears 
through which they have been wandering. We 
have it in the history of His ancient people 



66 MORE WORDS AB0U7 1 THE BIBLE. 

He was leading them, and teaching them from 
Abraham to Moses, and from Moses and all the 
prophets, even unto Christ. Shall we infer 
that he was not leading them because they 
sometimes went astray, and their knowledge 
was imperfect, and, even their teachers, were 
sometimes in error ? The law of Moses, itself, 
with all the light of prophesy thrown upon it, 
was imperfect ; but was it any the less surely 
leading men to Christ ? 

We have proof, too, of the Divine guidance 
in the history of the Christian Church, with all 
its controversies, its false traditions, its corrup- 
tions. Her Apostles and Prophets, her noble 
army of martyrs, her sons and her daughters of 
saintly life, and consecrated gifts of wisdom, 
and learning, and piety — all are witnesses to 
the truth which she has transmitted from her 
Lord through the ages. The stream has in- 
deed been made turbid by manifold errors and 
vain speculations, by human ignorance, and 
human frailty ; but it is none the less the river 
of God — for its source is Divine — and the 
streams of the flood thereof shall make glad 
the city of our God. 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 67 

Uncertainty there is about many things — ■ 
ignorance of many more ; but the promise is 
not that we should be as Gods, knowing all the 
truth. The Spirit is leading us on, step by 
step ; and if, for the humbling of our pride, we 
are reminded that our footsteps are feeble, and 
our progress but slow, shall we, therefore, doubt 
of the power of the hand that is guiding us ? 
Let us hold fast to that ; and never doubt that 
both grace and truth shall be sufficient for us. 
Only, let us not be content with our ignorance, 
nor fall into a state of idle dependence upon 
guides that are only human. The promise is 
given of the Spirit. We need that always to 
enable us to distinguish the true from the 
false, the human from the Divine — -that we, 
ourselves, may have the truth within us, as a 
well of life, the living fountain of wisdom and 
knowledge. We need the Spirit in the study 
of Scripture, in receiving the testimony of the 
Church, in all our reading, and thinking, and 
hearing, of what men believe to be true. And, if 
so be, that we desire what we need, and have the 
will to do, as well as to know, of the doctrine, 
it shall be ours, as surely as the Word of God 



68 MOKE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

is true. Our prayer, so often made, shall be 
heard, and God, the Holy Ghost, shall enlighten 
us more and more with the light of the ever- 
lasting Gospel. 



V. 

Otlie tDorb mate /Usb. 



THE WORD MADE FLESK. 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was 
with God, and the Word was God ; and the Word was 
made flesh, and dwelt among us. — St. John i., i and 14. 

What did the writer mean by these words ? 
The inquiring mind has sometimes been met 
by the answer, that the truth which they con- 
vey is an unfathomable mystery, embodied in 
the Church's creeds, and to be received with an 
implicit assent to her authority. An evasive 
answer like this will not satisfy the mind of any 
thoughtful reader of the Bible. It may appear 
only to hide the ignorance of one who makes 
it. The Words of Scripture were written to 
be understood, and not to be recited blindly and 
ignorantly. 

For myself, I believe there is a meaning in 
these words of the Evangelist, which no mere 
formulary can interpret ; which, however, every 



72 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

spiritually minded Christian can receive, — a 
meaning, too, that will go far to meet some of 
the graver difficulties which arise, in thoughtful 
minds, under the teaching of modern science. ; 

You will observe that the writer of them 
assumes the existence of such a Being as God, 
In this assumption, the leading teachers of 
science in our day are not at issue with him. 
Mr. Tyndall and Mr. Proctor, and, I think, Mr. 
Huxley, are at pains to assure the world that 
they are not atheists. The writer of the Gos- 
pel, however, teaches, that of the Being of God, 
we may know something; for that He has 
made a revelation of Himself to the mind of 
man. The Word of God, he says, was made of 
flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and 
truth. And here, he, and some of these men of 
science, part company. For they affirm that 
God is unknowable. They are not content 
with saying that we cannot know Him to per- 
fection. They tell us that we cannot rationally 
conceive the Being of God, as an object of 
thoughtful reverence and love. 

Now, I am very far from believing that many 
of those who use the term referred to are with- 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 73 

out some faith in a Divine Being, derived 
partly from traditions not wholly surrendered, 
and partly from the knowledge which they have 
gained, of themselves, and the universe. Many 
who refuse to accept the thought of God in the 
popular theology, have their own conception of 
Deity, more or less vague, and in keeping with 
the repeated declaration of our imperfect knowl- 
edge of God, in Scripture. But the Being of 
God, once admitted, by whatsoever name He 
may be called — the Absolute, the Infinite, or 
even, the Nameless One, — it will be seen that 
the very thought of His Being must originate in 
what is believed to be some manifestation 
thereof to the human mind. 

Our conception of any human being whom 
.we have not seen, is found through some utter- 
ance of himself in word or deed. Michael 
Angelo speaks to us in St. Peter's ; Raphael, in 
^his Madonnas ; Milton, in his poems ; Beet- 
hoven, in his symphonies. We see in these 
works, the genius, i. e., the mind and spirit of 
the men. Each one had his word to speak, his 
thought to utter ; and that word, or that 
thought, reveals himself — nay, it is himself, to us. 









74 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

Now, as it seems to me, it is just this which 
John means when he says that " the Word was 
God." The God in whom he believed, is the 
Being, who is heard, and seen, and known, in 
the uttered Word, or Thought, of Himself in the 
universe. The Greek term translated " word," 
means also " thought," or, rather, thought ex- 
pressed. This thought of God is not in time 
only, but in eternity. For as we cannot think 
of God, as Himself without thought, and so, 
without action, therefore we cannot limit His 
thought, or activity, to the period of duration 
which we call time. Thus John says, " The 
Word was in the beginning with God ; " so, 
also, the author of the Book of Genesis says, 
" In the beginning God created the heavens and 
the earth." The words, " in the beginning," 
are, no doubt, used in the same sense by both 
writers. The work of creation was in the mind 
of God before the world was. The Word, or 
the Thought of God, is co-eternal with Himself, 
without beginning of days, or end of years. 

Time, however, is a portion of eternity, as the 
finite is a part of the Infinite; and it is to this 
part and portion that our knowledge of God is 






MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 75 

confined. The Word of God comes to us in 
what we see and know of creation — in what we 
see, and feel, and know, of ourselves, body, soul 
and spirit. It comes to us in human history, 
which is the development in time, of God's 
thought for the human race. Most of all, it 
comes to us in the highest type of human char- 
acter. We learn something of the Supreme 
Intelligence, and the Supreme Will, from what 
we know of the intelligence and will of man. 
Even so of the Spirit of God, we may know, as 
Paul says, by the Spirit in ourselves, which is 
the gift of God. He speaks to us, albeit imper- 
fectly, according to our limited and finite com- 
prehension. The Divine Love and Wisdom 
are revealed, under the conditions of time. He 
speaks to us in the words and deeds of men — 
the wise and the good, who have appeared from 
time to time on the stage of the world's history 
— the sages, and prophets, and poets — the seers 
of His truth— the speakers of His word — the 
doers of His work. These are the inspired 
ones of earth. The poet is not the verse-" 
maker, pleasing the ear with the jingle of his 
rnymes, but the soul that sees and interprets 



j6 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

the Word of God in nature and in human life. 

To the prophets and poets of Israel there 
came the vision of the Word, in the reign of 
righteous kings ; under the figure of earthly 
blessings, peace, prosperity, security of life, the 
overthrow of injustice, deliverance from cap- 
tivity — the feast of fat things, the corn, the 
wine, and the oil — the cattle upon a thousand 
hills — the shelter from the storm— the quiet 
habitation ; and all these but the shadow and 
symbol of the richer blessings that should come 
by the outpouring of the Spirit of God. 

Is it strange that the heart of faith should 
have sought some living representative of the 
Word of God, whose right to reign on earth as 
the King of men should indeed be Divine, 
established by a conquest wider than the extent 
of empires ? 

Now, if there be One, who has indeed ap- 
peared on earth — who represents in word and 
deed, more than all others, the wisdom of the 
a^es ; One who has borne to his race, as none 
beside, a message of Truth and Love — is it too 
much to say of Him, that 4 ' the Word of God 
was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. yy 

grace and truth ? " Here, then, in the Christ 
of history, is the Thought of God for our 
humanity, the Word in the mind of God, from 
Eternity, but expressed to us in time. " God, 
who in times past, hath spoken unto us by the 
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto 
us by a Son." 

Verily, the Christ, our Lord, is the God — 
man. The Divine and human meet in Him. 
He is the object in time, of our faith, our hope, 
and our love — One with the Father in Spirit. 
Who that looks upon the face of Jesus, as the 
writer of the fourth gospel did, can say that we 
know nothing of God ? Or who will refuse to 
say with him, " No man hath seen God at any 
time — the only begotten Son which is in the 
bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." 

It is plain that this writer, whoever he was, 
beheld in the life and teaching of Jesus the 
crowning glory of Gods work in humanity. 
And this is our distinctive faith, as Christians, 
that we discern in the Christ of the gospel 
narrative, after all that may be separated from 
it, by a truthful criticism, the revelation of the 
mind and will of God to the human race. 



73 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

We see in Christ, the reflection of the Divine 
love and wisdom. These we believe to be of the 
very essence, which forms the object of our 
highest worship. They tell us of what God is, 
and what God means to us. As the light and 
heat which radiate from the sun, tell us of what 
the sun is in its relation to our planet, the 
source of its teeming life and beauty, so Christ 
is the light of the world — the brightness of the 
Father's glory, the express image of His person ; 
not confounding Him with the Father, any 
more than the light of day is confounded with 
the sun, but proclaiming the unity of Christ in 
Spirit with the Father, as the unity of the co- 
eternal Word with God. 

And herein lies the excellency ®i the gospel 
of Christ over all other revelations of C*©<3. We 
should err if we thought it the only revelation ; 
for God has always been speaking to the mind 
and heart of man. It were an unworthy 
thought of God, to think of Him as ever ceas- 
ing to speak. His word has come to other 
good men than the writers of our own Scrip- 
tures ; and there have been other prophets than 
those of the Hebrew and Christian peoples.. 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 79 

But in other religions, the rays of truth are 
feeble and scattered at the best ; discolored, too, 
and distorted by a thousand superstitious fan- 
cies. In the gospel of Christ, the light shines 
out strong and clear, revealing the righteous- 
ness and holiness of God, yet with a radiance so 
mild, and a warmth so inspiring, that the cold- 
est and most distant soul may be drawn into 
the way of life. 

In Christ, God is Love ; and Love knows no 
gift too precious, no sacrifice too dear, for its 
expression. The Good Shepherd comes to 
seek and to save that which is lost. He goeth 
into the wilderness for the one that is gone 
astray ; He giveth His life for the sheep. In 
Christ, God is the Father, whose heart can 
never cease to yearn for His erring child. Liv- 
ing or dead, he is the child of His love. " For 
this, thy brother, was dead, and is alive again ; 
he was lost, and is found." 

This, dear friends, is the knowledge of God, 
of which John spake as the light that lighteth 
every man coming into the world. Now, for 
these eighteen hundred years and more, it has 
been to the souls of men a Divine image of 



80 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

peace and salvation, borne as from the heart of 
God, to a sinning world, filling the soul of the 
believer with joy, and inspiring that soul to 
bear the glad tidings to others. " Good tidings 
of great joy," were brought as by the angels of 
God to the shepherds of Bethlehem. The 
angelic song has been echoed and re-echoed 
from heart to heart, through all the ages since, 
and shall never cease to be heard until the 
earth is filled with the knowledge and the love 
of God. 

We speak of Jesus as Divine, and we speak 
truly ; for as the revealed Thought of God in 
our humanity, He is " God of God, Light of 
Light," coming forth from the bosom of the 
Father, and bringing with Him the life and 
light from on high. But now we must not lose 
sight of the truth that Jesus was as really and 
perfectly human as we ourselves ; " made of the 
seed of Abraham, according to the flesh." For 
it is only by the Spirit of Holiness, revealed in 
the human life of Christ, that we can see His 
divinity. The Word must be made flesh. 

We see God partially in nature, His love in 
the gifts of His bounty, His wisdom and glory 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. Si 

in the wondrous structure and order of the uni- 
verse. But He comes most nearly to our hearts 
in the Gospel of Christ — in His Divine sym- 
pathy with suffering — His tenderness to the 
fallen — His loving sacrifice of self — His witness 
to the truth — in the testing of His character by 
temptation and suffering — in the dignity and 
glory of His entire manhood. He was, indeed, 
the tried stone of the prophet, elect and pre- 
cious, rejected by the builders, and made in 
Israel the stone of stumbling and rock of 
offence, but become at last the corner stone of 
the temple of God in Zion. To the Greek, 
also, seeking after wisdom other than divine, 
the cross of Christ was foolishness ; but to the 
faith of His true disciples it has proved in all 
the ages since, the power of God, and the 
Wisdom of God. 

The Christian faith, in itself the offspring of 
the highest reason in man, is made secure by 
the admitted facts in the life and ministry of 
Jesus. 

" That which was from the beginning (in the 
mind of God) which we have heard, which we 
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked 



%2 MORE WORDS ABOUT THE BIBLE. 

upon, and our hands have handled of the Word 
of life ; that which we have seen and heard, de- 
clare we unto you, that ye also may have fellow- 
ship with us ; and truly, our fellowship is with the 
Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." This 
record of an eye witness, sustained by ample 
testimony beside, can be impeached by no de- 
nial or disproof of miracle. It abides, in the 
homage of the civilized world sincerely rendered 
to the God-like character of Jesus — in the emi- 
nence which that name maintains to-day among 
the saviours and teachers of the human race. 
In that life and ministry, we have God's thought 
to us — God's Word — God's message of grace 
and salvation. 

Shall it be said, then, that we cannot know 
God ? Then, the Word of God that is written, 
in the book of Nature, and on the page of 
human history, and blazoned in lines of living 
light in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is without a 
meaning ; then, the story of Jesus, so sweet to 
the ear of childhood, so tender to the lowly and 
the fallen ones on earth, so eloquently respon- 
sive to the truest and noblest longings of the 
human heart, has been told in vain. There is 



MORE WORDS ABOUT THE hTBLE. £3 

no beauty in the face of Jesus, that we shculd 
desire Him, no ear to listen to the music oi 
those angelic voices singing "their carol of 
high praise," no voice to answer back to the 
heavens, the grateful acknowledgment of God's 
best gift to man. 



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Hyperion, by H. W. Longfellow . . .20 
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Collins 20 

Divorce, by Margaret Lee 20 

Life of Washington, by Henley.. 20 
S <:ia] Etiquette, by Mrs. W. A. 

Saville 15 

Single Heart and Double Face, by 

Charles Reade 10 

Irene, by Carl Detlef 20 

Vice Versa; or, a Lesson to Fathers, 

by F. Anstey 20 

ErnePt Maltraveis, by Lord Lytton. 20 
The Haunted House and Calderon 

the Courtier, by Lord Lytton... 10 

John Halifax, by Miss Mulock 20 

800 Leagues on the Amazon, being 

Part I of the Giant Raft, by 

Jules Verne 10 

The Cryptogram, being Part II of 

the Giant Raft, by Jules Verne.. 10 
Life of Marion, by Horry andWeems. 20 

Paul and Virginia 10 

Tale of Two Cities, by Dickens 20 

The Hermits, by Kingsley 20 

An Adventure in Thule, and Mar- 
riage of Moira Fergus, by Wm. 

Black 10 

A Marriage in High Life, by Octave 

Feuillet 20 

Robir., by "Mrs. Parr 20 

T'>oon a Tiw«r, hvTho'im= Hardy. '.0 
RasseUs, by Samuel Johnson 10 



45. Alice, or, the Mysteries, being Part 

II of Ernest Maltravers.. 20 

43 Duke of Kandos, by A. Mat they . . .20 

47. Baron Munchausen 10 

48. A Princess of Thule. by Wm. Black. 20 

49. The Secret Despatch, by Grant 20 

50. Early Days of Christianity, by Can- 

on Farrar, D.D., Parti ...iO 

Early Days of Christianity, by Can- 
on Farrar, D. D., Part II 20 

51. Vicar of Wakefield, by Oliver Gold- 

smith 10 

52. Progress and Poverty, by Henry 

George 20 

53. The Spy, by J. Fenimore Cooper. . . 20 

54. East Lynne, by Mrs. Henry Wood.20 

55. A Strange Story, by Lord L\ tton.. 2D 

56. Adam Bede, by Geo. Eliot, Part I.. 15 
Adam Bede, by Geo. Eliot, Part II. .15 

57. The Golden Shaft, by Gibbon. 20 

58. Portia, or, By Passions Rocked, by 

The Duchess 20 

59. Last Days of Pompeii, by Lytton. 20 

60. The Two Duchesses, being the se- 

quel to the Duke of Kandos, by 

A. Mathey 20 

CI. Tom Brown's School Days at Rug- 
by 20 

C2. TheWooing O't, by Mrs. Alexander, 

Part I 15 

TheWooing 0*t, by Mrs. Alexander, 
Part II 15 

63. The Vendetta, Taies of Love and 

Passion, by Honore de Balzac. 20 

64. Hypatia, by Rev. Kingsley, Part I. .15 
Hypatia, by Kingsley, Part II. ...15 

G5. Selma. by Mrs. J. Oregory Smith.. 15 

66. Margaret and her Bridesmaids. ..20 

67. Horse Shoe Robinson, Part I .... 15 
Horse Shoe Robinson, Part II 15 

68. Gulliver's Travels, by Dean Swift:. 20 

69. Amos Barton, by George Eliot 10 

70. The Berber, by W. E. Mayo 20 

71. Silas Marner, by George Eliot.... Hi 

72. The Queen of the County 20 

73. Life of Cromwell, by Paxton Hood. .15 
7-1. Jane Eyr<\ by Charlotte Bronte... 2U 

75. Child's History of England, by 

Charles Dickens .20 

76. Molly Bawn. by The Duchess 20 

77. Pillone, bv William Bergsbe ..15 

78. Phyllis, by t he Duchess 20 

79. Romola, by George Eliot, Part I... 15 
Romola, by George Eliot, Part II. .15 

80. Science in Short Chapters 20 

81. Zanoni. by Lord LvLton 20 

82. A Daughter of Het'h, by W. Black. 20 

83. The Right and Wrone Uses of the 

Bible, by Rev. R. Heber Newton.;. 
84 Night and Morning, by Lord Lytton 

Part I . .. .15 

N'ghl and M rning. by Lord L\tton 
Fait II ' 15 



LOVELL'S LIBRARY. 



c^.T-A.XjOG-t.tie. 



85. Shandon Bells, by William Black. 20 

SO. Monica, by The Duchess ...10 

87. Heart and Science, byWilkie Cul- 

lins 20 

S3. The Golden Calf, by Miss M. E. 

Braddon 20 

89. The Dean's Daughter, by Mrs. 

Gjre 20 

90. Mrs. Geoffrey, by The Duchess.. 20 

91. Pickwick Papers. Part I. 20 

Pickwick Papers, Parb II 20 

92. Airy Fairy Lilian, by The Duchess. *0 
91 McLeod of Dare, by Wm. Black. 20 

94. Tempest Tossed, by Tilton, P'tl.20 
Tempest Tossed, by Tilton, P'tII.20 

95. Letters from High Latitudes, by 

Lord Dufferin 20 

90. Gideon Flevce, by Henry W. Lucy. 20 

97. India and Ceylon, by E. Hseckle. .20 

98. The Gypsy Queen, by Hugh De 

Normand 20 

99. The Admiral's Ward, by Mrs. 

Alexander 20 

100. Nimport, by E. L. Bynner, P't I. .15 
Nimport, byE. L. Bynner. P't II. . 15 

101. Harrv Holbrooke, by Sir H. Ran- 

dall Roberts 20 

102. Tritons, by E. Lasscter Bynner, 

Parti 15 

Tritons, by E. Lasseter Bvnncr, 

Part II 15 

103 Let Nothing You Dismay, by Wal- 
ter Besant 10 

104. Lady Audley's Secret, by Miss M. 

E. Braddon 20 

105. Woman's Place To-Day, by Mrs. 

Lillie Devereux Blake 20 

100. Dunallan, by Kennedy, Part I... 15 
Dunallan, by Kennedy, Part II.. 15 
107. Housekeeping and Home-Making, 

by Marion Harland 15 

1GS. No New Thing, by W. E. Norris..20 

109. The SpoopendykePapers, by Stan- 

ley Huntley 20 

110. False Hopes, by Goldwin Smith. .15 

111. Labor and Capital, by Edward 

Kellogg 20 

112. Wanda, by Onida, Part 1 15 

Wanda, by Onida, Part II 15 

113. More Words About the Bible, by 

Rev. Jab. S. Bush 20 

114. Monsieur Lecoq, by Gaboriau, P't 1.20 
MonsieurLecoq, byGaboriau,P't II .20 

115. An Outline of Irish History, by 

Justin H. McCarthy. 10 

110. The Lerouge Case, by Gaboriau . . 20 
117. Paul Clifford, bv Lord Lvtton...20 
IIS. A New Lease of Life, by About . . 20 

119. Bourbon Lillies 20 

120. Other Peoples' Money, by Emile 

Gaboriau 20 

121. TheLadyof Lyone,byLord Lytton. 10 

122. Ameline de Bourg * 15 



123. A Sea Queen, by W. Clark Russell. 20 

124. The Ladies Lindores, by Mrs. 

Oliphant 20 

125. Haunted Hearts, by J. P. Simpson. 10 

126. Loys, Lord Beresford, by The 

Duchess 20 

127. Under Two Flags, by Ouida, P't 1.15 
Under Two Flags, byOuida,P't 11.15 

12S. Money, by Lord Lytton 10 

129. In Peril of His Lite, by Gaboriau. 20 

130. India, by Max Muller 20 

131. Jets and Flashes 20 

182. Moonshine and Marguerites, by 

The Duche«s. 10 

133. Mr. Scarborough's Family, by 

Anthony Trollope, Part 1 15 

Mr. Scarborough's Family, by 
Anthony Trollope, Pait II 15 

134. Arden, by A. Mary F. Roberts... 15 

135. The Tower of Percemont, by 

George Sand 20 

136. Yolande, by Wm. Black 20 

137. Cruel London, by Joseph Hatton.,0 

138. The Gilded Clique, by Gaboriau... 20 

139. Pike County Folks, by E. H. Mott..20 

140. Cricket on the Hearth, byDickens.10 

141. Henry Esmond, by Thackeray 20 

142. Strange Adventures of a Phaeton, 

by Wm. Black .20 

143. Denis Duval, by W. M.Thackeray. 10 

144. Old Curiosity Shop, by Charles 

Dickens, Part 1 15 

Old Curiosity Shop, by Charles 
Dickens. Part II 15 

145. Ivanhoe, by Scott, Part 1 15 

Ivanhoe, by Scott, Part II 15 

146. White Wings, by Wm. Black 20 

147. The Sketch Book, by Washington 

Irving 20 

14S. Catherine, by W. M. Thackeray. .10 

149. Janet's Repentance, by George 

Eliot 10 

150. BarnabvRudge, by Chas. Dickens 

Part 1 15 

BarnabvRudge. by Chas. Dickens 
Part II 15 

151. Felix Holt, by George Eliot 80 

152. Richelieu, by Lord Lytton 10 

153. Sunrise, by Wm, Black, Part I 1 5 

Sunrive, by Wm. Biack, Part II.. 15 

154. Tour of the World in SO Days, by 

Jules Yerne 20 

155. Mysteries of Orcival, by Emile 

Gaboriau X0 

156. Lovel. The Widower, by W. M. 

Thackeray 10 

158. David Copperfield, by Charles 

Dickens, Part 1 ?0 

David Copperfield, by Charles 

Dickens, Part II TO 

160. Rienzi, by Lord Lytton, Part I ...15 
Kieuzi, by Lord Lytton, Tart II. .15 



The Three Spaniards. 

A ROMANCE, 
By GEORGE WALKER. 



Wo. 13 OF LOVBLL'S 3Li I B R, -A. R, TT , 
PAPER COVERS, 20 CENTS. 



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read by old and young with avidity, boys and girls smuggling it into 
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had already mastered its exciting contents in secret. It is full of a 
most intense kind of interest — love scenes, mysterious men and women, 
emissaries of the Inquisition, priests, bandits, outlaws, dark cells, sub- 
terranean passages, and lovely and unfortunate women, being found 
in every chapter." — Albany Times. 

f< A romance of the most dramatic character, replete with anecdote, 
adventure, and fine descriptive passage. For light reading, this is one 
of the most entertaining of books." — The Dispatch, Pittsburgh. 

*' If you read it in the night, it would be apt to make you back into 
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rxun until your head was safely covered by the bed clothes." — The 
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FOR SALE BY ALL NEWSDEALERS & BOOKSELLERS. 



JOHN W. LOVELL CO., Publishers, 
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By EDMOND ABOUT. 

A New Lease of Life 20 

By Mrs. ALEXANDER. 

♦The Wooing O't, Parti 15 

" Part II 15 

♦The Admiral's Ward 20 

By F. ANSTEY. 
♦Vice Versa; or, a Lesson to 
Fathers 20 

By SIR SAMUEL BAKER. 

♦Cast up by the Sea 20 

♦Eigit Years Wandering in Ceylon. .20 
♦Rifle and Hound in Ceylon 20 

By HOXORE DE BALZAC. 

The Vendetta, Tales of Love and Pas- 
sion 20 

Br WALTER BESANT AND 
JAMES MCE. 
They Were Married. 



Let Nothing You Dismay 10 

By BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON. 

The Happy Boy 10 

Arne 10 

By WILHELM B . RGSOE. 

Pillone 15 

By LILLIE DEVEREUX BLAKE. 
Woman's Place To-day 20 



By Miss M. E. BRADDON. 

♦The Golden Calf 20 

♦Lady Audley s Secret 20 

By WILLIAM BLACK. 
An Adventure in Thule and Marriage 

of Moira Ferens 10 

♦A Princess of Thule 20 

♦A Da ughter of Heth 20 

*Shandon Belis '-0 

♦Macleod of Dare 20 

*Madcap Violet 20 

♦Strange Adventures of a Phaeton. . .20 

♦white Wings .20 

♦Kilmeny 20 

♦Sunrise 20 

♦That Beautiful Wretch 20 

♦Tn Silk Attire 20 

♦The Three Feathers 20 

♦Green Pastures and Piccadilly 20 

♦Yolande 20 

By CHARLOTTE BRONTE. 
♦Jane Eyre 20 

By RHODA BROUGHTON. 

♦Second Thoughts 20 

♦Belinoa 20 

By JAMES S. BUSH. 

More Words About the Bible 20 

By E. LASSETER BYNNER. 

Nimport, Part 1 15 

Part II 15 

Tritons, Parti 15 

Part II 15 



By Mrs. CIIAMPNEY 
Bourbon Lilies 20 

By WILKIE COLLINS. 

*The Moonstone, Parti 10 

Partll 10 

*The New Magdalen 20 

*Heart and Science .20 

By J. FENIMORE COOPER. 

*The Last of the Mohicans 20 

♦The Spy 20 

By THOMAS DE QUINCEY. 
The Spanish Nun 10 

By CARL DETLEF. 

Irene, or the Lonely Manor 20 

By CHARLES DICKENS. 

*0 iver Twist 20 

Pickwick Papers, Part 1 20 

Partll 20 

*A Tale of Two Ciliesr 20 

♦Child's History of Eagland 20 

By "THE DUCHESS." 

♦Portia, or by Passions Rocked 20 

*Molly Bawn 20 

♦Phyllis 20 

M mica 10 

♦Mrs. Geoffrey 20 

♦Airy Fairy Lilian 20 

♦Beauty's Daughters 20 

♦Faith and Untaith 20 

♦Lovs, Lord B^ri'sford 20 

Moonshine and Marguerites 10 

By Lord DUFF-ERIN. 

Letters from High Latitudes 20 

By GEORGE ELIOT. 

♦Adam Bede, Part 1 15 

" Partll 15 

Amos Barton 10 

Silas Marner 10 

♦Romola Part I 15 

Partll 15 

By F. W. FARRAR, D.D. 

♦Seekers After God 20 

♦Early Days of Christianity, Pait 1 . .20 
Part II.. 20 

By JOHN FRAXKLIN. 

Ameline du Bourg... 15 

By OCTAVE FEUILLET. 
A Marriage in High Life 20 

By E MILE GABORIAU. 

♦The Lerouge Ca^e 20 

♦Monsieur Lecoq. Part 1 20 

Partll 20 

♦The Mystery of Orciv ti 20 

♦Other People's Money 20 

♦ I n Peril or hi* Life 20 

♦The Gilded Clique 20 

Promises of Marriage 10 



By HENRY GEORGE. 
Progress and Poverty . . 2C 

By CHARLES GIBBON. 
♦The Golden Shaft 2C 

By OLIVER GOLDSMITH. 

Vicar of Wakefield .> . 10 

By Mrs. GORE. 
The Dean's Daughter ..20 

By JAMES GRANT. 
♦The Secret Despatch 20 

By THOMAS HARDY. 
Two on a Tower .20 

By PAXTON HOOD. 
Life of Cromwell 15 

By LEONARD HENLEY 

♦Life of Washington 20 

By JOSEPH HATTON. 

♦Clytie : 20 

♦Cruel London 20 

By LUDOVTC HALEVY. 
L'Abbe Constantin 20 

By ROBERT HOUDIN. 
The Tricks of the Greeks Unveiled. . .20 

By HORRY AND WEEMS. 

♦Life of Marion 20 

By Miss HARRIET JAY. 

The Dirk Colleen 20 

By MARION HARLAND. 
Housekeeping and Homemaking 15 

By STANLEY HUNTLEY. 
♦Spoopendyke Papers 20 

By WASHINGTON IRVING. 
♦The Sketch Book 20 

By SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
Rasselas 10 

By JOHN P. KENNEDY. 

♦Horse Shoe Robinson, Part 1 15 

Partll 15 

By EDWARD KELLOGG. 
Labor and Capital 29 

By GRACE KENNEDY. 

Dunallen, Part 1 15 

Partll 15 

BtCHAS. KINGSLEY. 

♦The Hermits TO 

♦Hypatia, Parti 15 

Partll 15 



Br Miss MARGARET LEE. 
* Divorce 20 

By HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. 

*Hyperion 2H 

*Outre-Mer 20 

By SAMUEL LOVER. 
The Happy Man 10 

By LORD LYTTON. 

The Coming Race 10 

Leila, or the Siege "f Granada 10 

Earnest Maltravers v0 

The Haunted House, and Calderou 

The Courtier 10 

Alice; a t-equel to Earnest Maltravers. 20 

A Strange S ory 20 

♦Last Days of Pompeii X0 

Zanoni ^0 

Night and Morning, Part T 15 

Part II 15 

Paul Clifford <0 

Lady of Lyons j0 

Money 10 

Richelieu 10 

By H. C. LUKENS, 

*Jet6 and Flashes 20 

By Mrs. E. LYNN LINTON. 

lone Stewart 20 

By W. E. MAYO. 

The Berber 20 

By A. MATHEY. 

Duke of Kandos CO 

The Two Duchesses 20 

By JUSTIN H. MCCARTHY. 

An Outline of Irit-h History 10 

By EDWARD MOTT. 

*Pike County Folks 20 

By MAX MULLER. 

*lndia, what can she teach us? 20 

By Miss MULOCK. 
♦John Halifax 20 

ByR. HEBER NEWTON 
The Rigit and Wrung U*e« of the 
Bible 20 

By W. E. NORRIS. 

♦No New Thing 20 

By OULDA. 

♦Wanda, Part 1 15 

Part LI 15 

♦Under Two Flags, Part, 1 20 

Pai til 20 

By Mrs. OLIPHANT. 
♦The Ladies Lindores 20 

By LOUISA PARR. 

Robin ...20 



By JAMES PAYN. 

"•Thicker than Water 20 

By CHARLES READE. 
Single Heart and Double Face 10 

By REBECCA FERGUS REDCLIFF. 
Frfckles 20 

By Sir RANDALL H. ROBERTS. 

Harry Holbrooke 20 

By Mrs. ROWSON. 

Charlotte Temple 10 

By W. CLARK RUSSELL. 
♦A Sea Queen 20 

By GEORGE SAND. 
The Tower of Percemont .2q 

By Mrs. W. A. SAVILLE. 

Social Etiquette 15 

By MICHAEL SCOTT. 
*Tom Crirgle's Log 20 

By EUGENE SCRIBE. 
Fleurette 20 

By J. PALGRAVE SIMPSON. 
Haunted Hearts 10 

By GOLD WIN SMITH. D.C.L. 
False Hopes 15 

By DEAN SWIFT 
Gulliver's Travels 20 

By W. M. THACKERAY. 

♦Vanity Fair. Part 1 15 

" II 15 

By Judge D. P. THOMPSON. 
♦The Green Mountain Boys 20 

By THEODORE TILTON. 

Tempest Tossed, Part 1 20 

Part II 20 

By JULES VERNE. 

*800 League- on the Amazon 10 

♦The Cryptogram lu 

By GEORGE WALKER. 

♦The Three Spaniards 20 

ByW. M. WILLIAMS. 
Science in Short Chapters 20 

By Mrs. HENRY WOOD. 
♦East Lynne 20 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Paul a^d Virginia 10 

Margaret and her Bridesmaids 2'» 

The Queen of the County : 

Baron Munchausen 10 



" Earnest, honest and forcible • 
root; bold, sweeping* and dogmatic.' 

Journal. 



radical to the 

—Louisville Courier- 



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PROGRESS AND FOVERTY, 

By HENRY GEORGE. 

1 Vol. 12mo., Paper Covers, 50 Cents. 

A new edition, printed from large type and on heavy good paper. 

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down clearly, in black and white, what are the causes of social disease, but 
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,k A trumpet call to a struggle which cannot long be Molted.."— Philadelphia 
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JTJST PUBLISHED: 

SCIENCE !N SHORT CHAPTERS 

By W.MATTIEU WILLIAMS, F.R.A.S. F.C.S. 

Avtftvrof" The Fuel of the SunJ y " A Simple Treatise on Heat," dc. 

BEING No. 80 OK LOVELL'S LIBRARY, 

12mo, handsome paper covers, Price, 20 Cents. 

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world.'"— Academy. 

"The title of Mr. Mattien Williams' 'Science m Short Chapters 1 exactly 
explains its subject. Clear and simple, these brief reprints from all *»orts of 
periodicals are just what Angelina may profitably read to Edwin while he is 
sorting his papers, or trimming th a lamps, if (like some highly domesticated 
Edwins) he insists ou doing that tick ish bitof house-work : himself. "—6'rtfpAir. 

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" We highly recommend this most entertaining and vr.nnhle collection of 
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phy likewise."— Tablet. 

LIFE OF OLIVER CROMWELL, 

His Life, Times, Battlefields, and Contemporaries, by 

PAXT03ST HOOD, 

Author of " Christmas Evans,''' " Thomas Carlyle," "Romance of 
Biography" die. 

Be±u.gr :n*o. 73 of Lovell'S :lt:b:fi-a_:e£~2% 

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This is a popular biography of the career of Oliver Cromwell, which will be 
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For sale by all booksellers and newsdealers, or seni free of postage on 
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